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SPAIN’S BEST 35 WINES
BOTTOMS UP: The Olive Press chooses...
OLIVE PRESS
The
GIBRALTAR
FREE Vol. 8 Issue 210
NOLOTIL WARNING
www.theolivepress.es
The Rock’s ONLY free local paper
November 1st - November 14th 2023
A RIGHT ROYAL KNEES-UP IN STORE AS PRINCESS ROYAL PLANS TO VISIT
EXCLUSIVE By Yzabelle Bostyn
NORTHERN Europeans in Gibraltar are being warned about a lethal painkiller that is STILL being sold at pharmacies five years after it was banned. It comes after an Irish reader contacted us to sound the alarm after he was given the potentially deadly drug while receiving treatment at HCB Hospital in Denia, Alicante. Nolotil, also known as Metamizol, is the most common painkiller in Spain and is often marketed as an alternative to Ibuprofen or Paracetmol. But the drug has been linked to several deaths and serious illnesses among expats and tourists visiting Spain. A GBC investigation in 2018 revealed it was also on sale in Gibraltar, despite being illegal on the Rock. It led to a police and customs crackdown which effectively removed it from the market. Though usually harmless, Nolotil can affect Northern Europeans with fair complexions and is banned in the UK, Ireland and Sweden. In October 2018, the drug was banned for sale without a prescription to British people visiting Spain following a months’ long campaign by this newspaper and tireless medical campaigner Cristina Garcia del Campo. Recommendations were also issued advising medical staff to avoid giving the drug to patients in urgent care and to carry out follow up blood tests if the drug is given for seven days or more. Continues on page 2
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PAST GLORIES: Royal visits to Gib include Prince Edward and Sophie, HM the Queen (above) and a young Charles and Anne (right)
Literary Princess
Royal visit on the cards with a warm welcome assured - but not from Spain PRINCESS Anne is visiting Gibraltar to attend the annual literary festival, it has been announced. The popular British royal, 73, will arrive on the Rock with her husband, the Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence. The sister of King Charles will visit on November 17 and 18, as the honorary president of the International Literary Festival. The arrival of the Princess Royal is likely to raise eyebrows in Spain, which is not a fan of such visits from the British monarchy. Diplomats are said to view them as a direct challenge to the country's historical claims of sovereignty of the 'El Peñon' - the Spanish term used to describe Gibraltar. Princess Anne previously visited Gibraltar to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the British takeover of Gibraltar.
By John Culatto
She returned in 2009 to inaugurate a military clinic named after her and spoke of the ‘real sense of community, which is everywhere’ in Gibraltar. Like all Royal visits, she will receive a warm welcome from a Gibraltarian public that yearns for King Charles III to set foot once again on the Rock. The last royal visit was Prince Edward and his wife Princess Sophie in June 2022. The royal couple's visit marked the 70th anniversary of the late Queen Elizabeth II's ascension to the throne. A reigning UK monarch has not visited since Queen Elizabeth II arrived with Prince Philip in 1954. The pair brought their two oldest children at the time, King
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Charles and Anne, then four and three years old. The Duke of York visited Gibraltar in 1993, and two years later in 1995, while the former queen’s husband the Duke of Edinburgh presented his famous awards in 1996. In 2001 it was the turn of Prince Edward to set foot on Gibraltar as part of the 60th anniversary of his mother. Princess Anne visited Gibraltar in 2004 and 2009 when she
spoke of the ‘real sense of community, which is everywhere’ and like all Royal visits will receive a warm welcome. The visit could, however, anger neighbouring Spain, that has made a territorial claim on Gibraltar at the United Nations. When Queen Elizabeth II visited Gibraltar in 1954, it provoked a diplomatic protest from the Rock’s neighbour. Nearly every time a Royal visits Gibraltar Spain has reacted angrily.